Source: ALTA
31.3 million passengers were carried during January 2023 in the Latin America and Caribbean region. This figure represents 3.6% below January 2019 levels, reports the Passenger Traffic Report prepared by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA).
While this figure represents 21% more passengers than January 2022, it represents a slight slowdown from December 2022, when the region reached its 2019 levels with 32.3 million passengers.
Also, for the first time, Latin America and the Caribbean did not lead passenger recovery globally. This month Africa achieved the best recovery with 99.6%, and LAC ranked as the second region in the world with the highest recovery, followed by the Middle East and North America, both regions with 95.7%, Europe reached 81.8%, and Southeast Asia with 75.6%.
“In recent years, the aviation industry in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has shown huge resilience and, in 2022, consolidated its position as the world’s region with the best passenger recovery rates. January’s data reflects a slight slowdown in the path and the challenging prospects we will face in 2023,” said José Ricardo Botelho, ALTA’s Executive Director & CEO.
Botelho explains that many factors play against the industry’s efforts to recover both operationally and financially. Some of them are the high price of conventional and sustainable fuel, the high tax on the ticket price, and the lack of competitiveness and outdated regulations that do not encourage the advancement of the Latin American air market, which in addition to supplying an essential service for the population, activates a powerful economic value chain that generates social development.
“Therefore, our task is focused on promoting State agendas that consider aviation as an essential economic sector and provide technical information that results in actions that improve regulations, tax burdens and contribute to governments and industry to develop the great economic potential and social well-being derived from air connectivity,” underlined ALTA’s CEO.
Dominican Republic and Mexico lead the regional ranking in international passenger traffic
Regarding international passenger traffic, several countries continue to stand out with very positive growth. In this sense, in January 2023, Dominican Republic reached 111% of its 2019 levels and Mexico 116%. Brazil, Chile, and Argentina experienced a slight slowdown compared to the previous month, reaching 76%, 79%, and 70%, respectively. In December 2022, Peru reached 73% of its 2019 levels.
It is worth noting that domestic traffic exceeded 1% of its 2019 levels. Thus, Mexico exceeded its pre-pandemic levels by 25%. While Argentina, for the first time, exceeded its 2019 levels, reaching precisely 101%, Brazil was at 93%, and Chile at 88% of its 2019 levels. According to December 2022 data, Peru showed a 94% domestic recovery.
(*) Latin America, increasingly connected
In February, the region was internationally connected with 73. Of the total number of international seats (considering intra- and extra-regional), 41% corresponded to those destined for the United States.
The most connected country pairs were Mexico-USA with 1.7 million seats, Puerto Rico-USA with 472,271, and Mexico-Canada with 399,281.